Railway



Patented Nov. 25, 1890.

lNVENTUR WITNESSES ATTORNEY.

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UNITED STATES PATENT GEFIcE.

EDVIN D. GRAFF, OF NEYV YORK, N. Y.

RAILWAY APPLIANCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 441,484, dated November25, 1890.

Application filed July 31, 1890. Serial No. 360,478. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that'l, EDWIN D. GEAFE, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of New York city, in the county of New York and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railthereto.

way Appliances, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention in railway appliances relates to a means for theprevention of accidents to trains by reason of the breakage, washing orcarrying away, burning, or other destruction of fixed or permanentbridges over which such trains may have to pass. To this main endIconnect with the bridge a device or devices which, upon the parting ordestruction of the bridge, shall be automatically moved to a position toco-operate with a portion of the air or other power brake mechanism of atrain, and cause said brake mechanism to be automatically actuated andthe train to be arrested before reaching the bridge locality.

My invention consists in certain features of detail, construction, andcombinations of devices for carrying out the purposes of my improvement,all as will be hereinafter more fully-described, and particularly setforth in the appended claims. v

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of part of a spanof a stationary or fixed railway-bridge and of the approach Fig. 2 is aside-view of a locomotive, partly broken away to show a depending arm orlever for throwing into operation the brake mechanism of the train. Fig.3 is an enlarged vertical section taken at the line a: of Fig. 1. Fig. 4is an enlarged detail view to show a joint in the brake-trip andsignal-operating rod. Fig. 5 is a perspective view, enlarged, of aportion of the means for actuating the braketrip, and Fig. 6 is asimilar view of the brake-trip.

In the several figures the same part will be found designated by thesame numeral of reference.

1 designates the approach to a fixed or stationary railway-bridge 2; 3,the cross-ties, and 4 the tracks. A rod 5 on the bridge extends parallelwith and between the two sets of rails and is held in position laterallyand guided longitudinally by eyes or brackets 6,

secured at suitable intervals to the cross-ties. The said rod extendspast the bridge at either end thereof, and is connected toa rocker-arm7, fast on a transverse rock-shaft 8, which may be mounted in hearingsin depending boxes or guides 9,which contain each a sliding block ortrip-piece 10. On said rockshaft at each end is a lifter 11, extendingoutwardly from said shaft on each side, and constructed and arranged toraise said blocks or trip-pieces 10 (when said rock-shaft is turned ineither direction) by engagement with the convex or cam surface 12,formedat the bottom or base of each of said blocks. Normally the blocks orstrips lie within their housings or guides, so that their upper(preferably inclined) surfaces rest or are located below the tops of therails, as shown by the full lines at Fig. 3. WVhen raised by the lifters11, the upper portions of said blocks or trips may project orstand abovesaid rails, as shown by the dotted lines at Fig. 3.

On the rod 5 and on one approach to the bridge is a spiral or coiledspring 13, bearing at one end against an eye or bracket 6 and at theopposite end against a lug or head 14,secured on said rod. This springis arranged to press the rod 5 always in the direction of the arrow atFig. 1 and against the tension of a similar spring arranged in likemanner on the opposite approach to the bridge. (Not shown.) It will beunderstood, however, that in practice I purpose having a similar construction and arrangement at each approach to the bridge, and that thesprings 13 press in opposite directions and balance each other, so thatthe lifters on each side of the bridge stand normally in the horizontalposition shown in full lines at Fig. 3 and the blocks 'or trips stand intheir depressed or inoperativepositions. Although I prefer thisconstruction and arrangement so far as the main feature of this part ofmyinvention is concerned, the

rod 5 may be rigidly seouredor tied at'the opposite end in a manner toresist the stress of the spring 13 while the bridge is intact and inworking condition.

I prefer to make the bridge portion of the rod 5 in sections or partsand to connect them together by means of a fusible joint, which mayconsist of an easily-fusible metallic pin 15, passing through eyes inthe ends of the sectional rods. There may be as many of these jointsasmay be found most expedient. In operation should a fire occur on thebridge one or more of the joints or pins will melt or fuse and separateone or more of the sections of the rod and permit the spring 13 to movethe shore portion of the rod 5 in the direction of the arrow. Thismovement of the shore portion of the rod will in turn effect a vibrationof the rocker-arm and rockshaft and cause the lifter to rotate and raisethe blocks or trips, as illustrated. In case the bridge should becarried away or otherwise destroyed, the rod 5 on the bridge will bebroken or separated at one or more points, either at the joints orbetween joints, thus releasing the spring and causing it to raise theblocks or trips throiigh the intermediate devices above described and asillustrated. In the event of a mere sagging or partial displacement ofthe bridge, insufficient to part the rod 5, said rod will be drawntoward the bridge and turn the lifters in the opposite direction andcause them to elevate the trips, as above explained, the spring 13 beingcoiled or constructed to permit of compression suflicient to allow ofthis motion of the rod.

\Vhen the blocks or trips have been raised, either by the burning of thebridge or the partial or complete destruction thereof, they are then ina condition to act upon an arm or lever 16 depending from the locomotiveor from some vehicle making part of the train. This arm or lever isconnected with the air or other power brake mechanism in a manner suchthat when vibrated at its lower end by contact with the said trip itwill automatically throw into operation said brake mechanism and effecta stoppage of the train, all

as more fully set forth in applications for Letters Patent filed by meMay 19, 1890, No. 352,358, and July 23, 1890, No. 359,682. The rod 5 ispreferably extended back of the trips a suitable distance (on each sideof the bridge) and connected through a crank-arm 17, rockshaft 18,crank-arm 19, link 20, and lever 21 to the vertical shaft 22 of asemaphore or visual signal 23, which is adapted to be turned to indicatedanger simultaneously with the raising of the trips.

In case of accident to the bridge, the locomotive-engineer may stop thetrain in the ordinary manner in case he should observe the display ofthe danger signal. Should this, however, escape his attention the trainwill be automatically arrested subsequently by reason of the contact orco-operation of the lever 16 with one of the trips or blocks, suchcontact, as before explained, operating to throw into operation thewhole brake system.

The fusible joints, it will be understood, are provided in order thatthe trips or signals may be set in case of a the upon or burning of thebridge itself, and in lieu of this preferred construction the rod 5 maybe made entirely or partially of some metal adapted to melt at a lowtemperature, or, 011 the other hand, the device 5 may be a tarred oreasilyignitible rope or cable of fibrous material. I11 case it shouldnot be desired to provide for the setting of the trips or signals uponthe occurrence of a fire, the device 5 may consist simply of acontinuous rod or cable of metal connecting the trips and the signals(or either) with the bridge in a manner such as to actuate the same onlyupon the sagging, parting, or like destruction of the bridge, in whichevent the springs and joints may of course be entirely dispensed with.

Numerous changes in detail, construction, and arrangement may of coursebe made without departing from the gist of myinvention.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, with a fixed or permanent railway-bridge, of a tripadapted to cooperate with a portion of the brake mechanism of arailway-train, a rod or cable connected to the bridge and to the tripand fusible at one or more points at a comparatively low temperature,and means, substantially as described, for throwing said trip intooperative or working condition the instant said rod or cable is dividedor sundered, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with a railway-bridge, of a rock-shaft, meansconnecting the rockshaft with the bridge and adapted to actuate the samein case of accident to the bridge, a lifter on each side of saidrock-shaft, and a guided trip to co-operate with the air-brake mechanismof a railwa -train, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a rock-shaft and means for actuating the same,of a lifter extending outwardly on each side of the roclc shaft, and aguided trip having a convex or cam surface for engagement by said lifterin either direction of its movements, substantially as described.

Signed at New York city, in the county of New York and State of NewYork, this 29th day of July, A. D. 1890.

EDWIN D. GRAFF.

l/Vitnesses:

.lncoB FELBEL, M- E. Lnus.

IIC

